1. Plessy v. Ferguson, Jim Crow Laws,the KKK and Lynching
THE JIM CROW ERA
Plessy v. Ferguson, Jim Crow Laws,the KKK and Lynching

3. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Landmark Supreme Court case upheld Jim Crow laws, racial segregation
“separate but equal” accommodations on trains was constitutional
What are the main arguments of the majority opinion?
What are the main arguments in Harlan’s dissent?

4. Jim Crow Laws After Plessy
Decision opened door to segregation across South and beyond
Jim Crow laws common until ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court in Brown v. Board (1954)
Note some examples of Jim Crow laws…

5. Lynchings in the U.S.
, 4,742 Americans were documented as having been lynched; actual numbers are believed to be much higher.
Over 70 percent of the victims were African-Americans.
By late 1920s, 95% of lynchings took place in South.
Few lynch mob participants ever went to jail.
Police and other eye-witnesses refused to identify lynch mob members, and Southern all-white juries rarely convicted them.
1. The ghastly body swaying in the sun The women thronged to look, but never a one Showed sorrow in her eyes of steely blue; And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Danced round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee. —from "The Lynching" by Claude McKay
2. Go to

6. Claimed Causes 41% Felonious Assault 19.2% Rape 6.1% Attempted Rape
4.9% Robbery and Theft
1.8% Insult to White persons
22.7% Misc. or no offense at all
11.5% Trivial Offenses-"disputing with a white man”, “attempting to register to vote", "unpopularity", "testifying against a white man", "asking a white woman in marriage", "peeping in a window"

7. Anti-Lynching Crusade
Ida B. Wells sought to pass anti- lynching laws at the federal level
Southern states unwilling
From 1890 to 1960, nearly 200 anti- lynching bills were introduced to the U.S.Congress.
The U.S. House of Reps. passed three anti-lynching bills, but all failed in the Senate
In 1937, White and the NAACP used the Claude Neal lynching (read story) to spark a national crusade in support of an anti-lynching bill
The bill defined a lynch mob as "an assemblage composed of three or more persons acting [together] without authority of law, to kill or injure any person in the custody of any peace officer "
The Gavagan bill stated that any local or state officer who refused to protect an individual in custody or to prosecute lynch mob members would be guilty of a felony punishable by a fine up to $5,000 and imprisonment up to five years
Any officer actually aiding a lynch mob would face a prison term of from five to 25 years.
The bill made the county where a lynching took place liable for damages of $2,000 to $10,000
Missing from this bill, however, were any federal penalties for the lynchers themselves
Ida B. Wells (1862 – 1931)

8. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
Leader in black education (Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute)
Believed the way to achieve economic equality was through education
Promoted idea of working with whites to achieve progress – criticized for this

9. “Put down your bucket where you are” and work for immediate self-improvement rather than long-range social change.
- Booker T. Washington
He urged blacks to postpone efforts to achieve political equality and concentrate on self- improvement.

10. W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963) Demanded racial equality
immediately and criticized Booker
T. Washington
Newspaper called The Crisis
to report on racial equality issues
Helped Found the NAACP in 1905
“talented tenth”, exceptional blacks would gain positions of full equality
1963 gave up U.S. citizenship and became a citizen of Ghana

11. Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) Believed in black nationalism
Complete SEPERATION
Founded Universal Negro
Improvement Association UNIA (1914)
Audience: lowest class of blacks, most disenfranchised
Goals: 1) foster worldwide unity among blacks 2) encourage pride in African heritage 3) rejected integration 4) “back to Africa” movement

12. Great Depression Shift
African Americans began to vote Democrat for the first time… New Deal Legislation sponsored by FDR and Dems helped Economically “A deal with the devil” in the South. Southern Dems still very Racist.

13. Congress of Racial Equality
Known as CORE
Civil Rights organization aimed at organizing African American communities
Important early organization in Civil Rights Movement along with NAACP

14. Committee on Civil Rights
Put together by Truman (D) to investigate race relations in United States.
Made recommendations to improve race relations

15. Desegregation of the Military
Segregation ended after WWII (1948)
Stepping-stone to the Civil Rights Movement

16. “Dixiecrat” Party The States' Rights Democratic Party
usually called the Dixiecrats)
segregationist political party in 1948
It originated as a breakaway faction of the Democratic Party in 1948

17. Brown v. Board (1954) “Test Cases” lead by NAACP
Testing the 14th Amendment “Equal Protection” Clause
Overturned Plessy.
Separate is NEVER Equal (In Education…)
NO Mandate for immediate IMPLEMENTATION.

18. Southern Resistance